TransFirst Review

Overall Rating

Category Breakdown

Overview

TransFirst Merchant Services (transfirst.com) is one of the largest merchant account providers in the credit card processing industry. In April 2016, TransFirst was fully acquired by TSYS, and the companies now operate under a combined brand name. Prior to its acquisition, TransFirst boasted an annual processing volume upwards of $30 billion thanks to a sizable merchant customer base. TransFirst not only markets merchant services under its own brand but also under Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), one of which used to be called Merchant Express or Merchant Accounts Express. The company was founded in 1995 and although its corporate headquarters is found in Hauppauge, New York, TransFirst operates another major office in Broomfield, Colorado. TransFirst is sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank of Walnut Creek, California, by Synovus Bank of Columbus, Georgia, and by Deutsche Bank of New York as its acquiring banks. John Shlonsky is the senior executive vice president of TSYS and is in charge of the combined TSYS/TransFirst operation.

Key Points

Sales & Marketing: TransFirst appears to hire independent sales agents and has received a low-to-moderate number of complaints about its sales practices.

Costs & Contract: TransFirst appears to offer a three-year contract through TSYS with an early termination fee ranging from $250 to $500.

Sales & Marketing

Key Points - Sales & Marketing

Employs Independent Resellers

Yes

Advertises Deceptive Rates

Yes

Discloses All Important Terms

No

Evidence suggests that TransFirst relies heavily on recruiting independent agents in a “hiring mill” type fashion, and multiple agents have reported receiving poor or minimal training. This is a common marketing strategy among merchant account providers that often results in a high number of complaints from merchants. This company does not appear to be an exception as evidenced by many merchant complaints related to nondisclosure of fees and contract terms.

TransFirst no longer appears to use alternate business names (DBAs) in order to sell its services under unsoiled brand names. As mentioned earlier, one of these companies used to be “Merchant Express,” and another was reported to be “US Merchant Services.” The TransFirst website includes a page listing their mergers and acquisitions; the businesses on this list were once independent but appear to have been absorbed into the TransFirst brand name by now. The company’s services are also marketed by other independent companies (sub-ISOs) that operate under their own brand names.

The retail processing page on the TransFirst website quotes rates as low as 1.69% plus $0.19, and there are similar quotes on the company’s e-commerce, wireless, phone, and mobile processing pages. These are probably either the company’s rates for debit transactions or its “Qualified” rates for credit cards, but they are unrealistically low compared to what merchants will likely pay for the majority of their transactions. Since there is no mention of the much higher “Mid-Qualified” and “Non-Qualified” rates that the company charges, we consider this type of rate quote to be deceptive.

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Costs & Contract

Key Points - Costs & Contract

Swiped Rate

Variable

Keyed-in Rate

Variable

Early Termination Fee

$250-$500

PCI Compliance Fee

Variable

Equipment Lease Terms

Variable

The pricing, rates and contract terms of a TransFirst merchant account will likely vary based on several factors including a merchant’s business type, processing volume, agent setting up the account, and the sub-ISO reselling the account. The standard TransFirst contract is available for review below, but there is no guarantee that the terms outlined therein will be the terms offered by a TransFirst sales rep. It is also possible that TSYS’s acquisition of TransFirst has resulted in alterations to TransFirst’s contract terms, but we have seen no evidence of this to date. The agreement below outlines a 36-month service term that automatically renews for one-year terms unless cancelled at least 90 days prior to the expiration of the initial term. The early termination fee is $250 for merchants who cancel with a year or less remaining in their contract and $500 for merchants who cancel with more than one year remaining. Some merchants also reported what sounds like a “Liquidated Damages” cancellation fee. Normally, a Liquidated Damages clause in combination with an automatically renewing contract would earn a provider an “F” in this section; however, reports of this fee remain unverified, and the fee may only be applicable when dealing with certain ISOs or agents. See the TransFirst Merchant Agreement.

Complaints & Service

Key Points - Complaints & Service

Total Online Complaints

120+

Live Customer Support

Yes

Most Common Complaint

Hidden Fees

There are a moderate number of TransFirst merchant complaints for a provider of its size and time in business. The common themes in the complaints are merchants reporting unexpected and hidden fees, expensive terminal leases, poor customer service, and that agents failed to verbally disclose important contract terms such as the service length agreement and cancellation fees prior to setting up the account. As mentioned earlier, these are the types of complaints often found with providers that use independent agents and resellers to market their services. However, the ultimate responsibility rests with the company since it sets and enforces the service agreement policies. TransFirst offers phone support to all of its merchants, but it’s possible that its support channels may be reconfigured in the wake of the TSYS acquisition.

BBB

Key Points - BBB

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

As of this update, the Better Business Bureau is reporting that TransFirst has been “BBB accredited” since 2009 and is awarding the company an “A+” rating despite 107 complaints filed within the last 36 months, which is down from 111 complaints as of our last update. Of the complaints, 38 are due to problems with service, 25 with billing/collection, 26 with advertising and sales issues, and 15 with delivery issues. Forty-one of the complaints were resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction while 66 were not. The company also has 12 negative reviews posted to the BBB, but these reviews are not necessarily subject to verification. It is our philosophy that “A+” ratings should be reserved for companies with zero complaints. Therefore, we have adjusted the rating of this section to a “C” for the purposes of this review.

TransFirst Bottom Line

TransFirst rates as an average merchant account provider in the credit card processing industry. Many of its business practices and policies are common and can be found among several of its competitors. The company can improve its rating by removing policies that allow merchants to be set up in expensive accounts, reducing or removing its cancellation penalty, and eliminating future complaints.

About Phillip Parker

Hi, I’m Phillip and I’m disgusted by the state of credit card processing in the U.S. and abroad. I believe that the industry has been overrun by people who engage in fraud and deception in order to steal money from hard working business owners. I’ve made it my mission to expose the companies and individuals who engage in predatory marketing, pricing, and contracts, or just provide terrible service. Along with uncovering the bad guys, I’ve also discovered the good guys who do stand out from the status quo. CPO is a website where you will find ratings and reviews of these companies along with advice on how to save money and which service providers consider. Together we can move the industry in a positive direction. If you would like to help support my work, please checkout “Fee Sweep” my eGuide to getting the lowest possible fees when accepting card payments. If you haven’t heard of “interchange” this advice will save you hundreds, even thousands, in processing fees.

Phillip’s Merchant Account Rate and Fee Savings Guide

Copyright & Disclaimer

Any unauthorized copying and reproduction of the content of this page, including all meta data and computer code, is strictly prohibited. While the information in the above article is believed to be accurate as of its publish date, the author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of this material, which is provided “as is,” and without warranties. Any and all use of trade names and/or marks are for identification purposes only and shall not be construed as a claim of affiliation, or otherwise, with CardPaymentOptions.com, Inc. ("CPO") in any form. The sole purpose of the material presented herein is to alert, educate, and inform readers. It is not intended as legal or financial advice.

58 ReviewsLeave Your Review Below

I was told that I would be saving money by switching to this company. After switching, and comparing with my old company, I realized I was being charged significantly more. I decided to change companies again, to which I found out I was being charged a $500 early termination fee. A bunch of crooks, stay far away.

TransFirst seems to be a very poorly operated, we completed all the required TransFirst Business Information, in order to direct our credit card sales to our new bank account. Roger Kinney was our TransFirst Rep. All info was faxed to him, he informed me he received all the info and our new account is ready to accept the credit cards. We have both sent emails and phoned Roger, with no response. Is Roger still employed with TransFirst?

Our Small business has been using TransFirst since 2011. I cannot express how imperative it is for businesses to avoid this merchant processing at all cost! April 2017, we had a large order from a company in Utah that we had done business with in the past, the company paid their deposit with a credit card and in less that 2 hours unforeseen circumstances came up and they requested a refund. we immediately refunded the money.This transaction took place on a Saturday and the money never was deposited in our account but TransFirst charged our company $1465.00 for swiping the card.That is beyond comprehension!! Please look up the best ten merchant processing companies for small businesses and use one of them! TransFirst is the worst!

Do not trust this merchant provider. We had to find out from a customer that they closed our account after being open for a few days. And then charged us for the service for the whole month. They could of talk to us and give us a chance to make things right with our customers and not hurt our reputation.

Sales people are great until you have a problem. They sign you up without telling you about an affiliate program they set you up on that charges $29.99 a month. When you call to have it cancelled, they don’t return your call. The affiliate company doesn’t return your call. It is a total scam!

This would be the response you receive from a sales manager when you inquire about your request to terminate the service:

Dr. ______

I appreciate you sentiment. I can assure you there are no notes in your account reflecting your efforts to contact us. Are you sure you were calling Transfirst prior to your communication this week?

Also, when I called to terminate, the other person told me that it is their way to get you signed up without fully informing what the contract entails (i.e., fees that you didn’t know, restrictions on how you get your promotion money, etc.). I do not recommend this company to anyone.

I signed up with Transfirst in May and it has been anything but a nightmare! My account has had funds removed over drawn my account. I was charged $400 for a card reader that did not work which the rep was to pickup and she never came by because my business was to far for her to drive. It has been anything but simple wished I would of read reviews on this company before! Don’t sign up!

We have business account for years, but now when customer lied about returning a motorcycle this transfirst took twice the chargeback money from account and atm we are $ -12030 and no motorcycle…only option we have now is to let our attorney sue them !!!! JUST RUN WHEN YOU HEAR TRANSFIRST !!!!

Dishonest and horrible company. Lied on the phone on more than one occasion to secretly “renew” the policy. They promised it did not extend the policy and then one year later they change their story. They are the ultimate in sleazy!

Have dealt with TransFirst for many years and the hidden charges have made them less desirable. When I total all the charges and the processing fee they become more expensive than nearly all the others I have checked into. Plus they set up a lease for the processing equipment that is for 4 years that is unbreakable, The equipment I have will not read chip cards or cell phone payments and I can’t send the reader back and get out of the lease. My advice is to use one of the many better services and stay as far away from Transfirst as possible.

i hope we checked there reviews before we sign up for them.they pretty much keep charging and they won’t issue a refund. BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!! I felt bad for the employees i hope they can find other jobs rather than working for these company.

I have been trying for 2 days to get in touch with a support person to just answer a question. I spent 34 minutes and 28 minutes waiting on Monday, Oct 26 and just now 43 minutes on Tuesday, October 27, 2015. The recorded message stated over 10 minute waiting time. I am just trying to find out how to send a terminal back and terminate service on our business which is closing on October 31. Please will someone tell me how to do this?

I would not recommend using trans first for anything. Terrible customer service and even with a track record with the company they were unwiling to solve problems that came up. They almost cost us the success of our event.

This is the worst merchant service company I have ever dealt with. The people are very rude. It took a month to cancel my account and they continually took money out of my account. They cost me so much money the entire time I used there service. They tell you what you want to hear but they do not keep there word. HORRIBLE SERVICE!!!!!!!!

by far, Transfirst is the worst merchant services company you can deal with. I have been with them now for a year but i can tell you that today is my last day. I had to call then every month now for the last five month to ask about fees they charge me with no explanation. today i spoke to Mr. James Who told me that he was not sure when or who authorized the approval of one of the fees that they applied to my account and was also unable to to explain to me why i am being charged a fee that was not suppose to be there in the first place. the list goes on and on annual fee and bi annual fees and monthly service fee and much more. close the account if you have one. i will make sure to file a consumer affairs complaint against them. the worst customer service ever.

Be careful when you cancel your account. There are hidden fees for canceling early. Mine was $193.00 which was taken out of my checking account without notice. This notice for fees charged when canceling early, is divided in two places in your contract and written in very small print. This company gets you two ways: they overcharge with their fees and it gets worse. Then, when you cancel a month early, you get charged the extra early cancellation fee.

The Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association has withdrawn its endorsement of Transfirst LLC following investigation of complaints from its members alleging unethical or illegal practces, including bait and switch, forging signatures, unauthorized charges, and double billing. The company declined to cooperate in this investigation, forcing the MVMA to withdraw their endosement. The MVMA has alerted its members to carefully check their records for any inconsistencies. The American Veterinary Medical Association has been notified, and will be conducting their own investigation.

I have been a Sales Agent in the Payment Processing Industry since 1999 and have worked with many processing companies until I signed up with this company, whom I couldn’t be happier with. Their customer service is among the best that I have encountered in nearly 15 years.

I have read many of the complaints on this website about this company and I feel that they are unfairly judging this company. These fees mentioned are charged by all the other companies that I have worked with, so these inexperienced business owners that are throwing blows at TransFirst are only mad because there own companies have failed and they have gone out-of-business making them closing pay fees. Other company complaints about chargebacks are due to the company having CHARGEBACKS, WHICH ARE DONE BY THE CARD ISSUER NOT BY THE PROCESSING COMPANY, SO TRANSFIRST HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CHARGEBACKS. Chargebacks are done when the cardholder calls the card issuing bank and requests a refund because they felt ripped-off if the service was not done properly or done at all, or the product broke-down or failed. Let me reiterate that these complaints are given to the CARD ISSUING BANK not the processing company. That is, the credit card issuing bank listed on the back of the credit card is the company responsible for the chargeback, because they who requests the refund. And this is how it works for all the chargebacks with every payment processing company in The United States of America.

Well Mr B,..Let me tell you about MY experience with this company.I recently changed my credit processing company and Transfirst was the clearinghouse they used. I own two retail stores and also do some sales online.I use a different processing company for my online sales as they are mostly hand entered and I didn’t want my in store swipe rates higher due to those…besides i may do maybe 5 transactions online a month.However sometimes i HAVE to hand enter credit cards if the customers card is scratched or damaged.This company cancelled my account without even a 24 notice because they looked at my website and saw that i sell online.They didn’t call…they didn’t ask ..they just ASSUMED .That was bad enough..but now they are holding over 6000.00 of my money they say in CASE OF CHARGEBACKS of which in 5 years in business i have had NOT A SINGLE ONE..i will haunt this company till the day I die…I will post on every forum and scream my story from the mountain top..After that I will Contact The Attorney Generals Office..The BBB and White Collar Crime Office…Ive never been treated like a criminal by a company before ..and having done not a thing wrong …I will make sure that NOONE ever signs with this company again..if i have to spend all day long every damn day doing it

A TOTAL RIP-OFF COMPANY!!!!! Don’t EVER do business with this company!! They lie about hidden fees and will charge $500 to close your account! This year our business changed and didn’t do very many CC transactions. In fact, we made 3 transactions YTD totaling $1,254 and was charged $636 for the processing!!!! When I contacted manager Becky Unruh about cancelling the account, she was rude and steadfast about charging me the cancellation fee despite the outrageous fees already paid! NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH TRANSFIRST…you’ll regret it!

I share everyone’s dismay. I had Transfirst for two years and it cost me so much just to pay them their little (or big rather) charges that I nearly lost my business. How they can still be in business, ripping people off, is totally amazing. They are unbelievable, lying crooks.

Lies, Lies and more Lies!!! BEN GAFF Sales Representative. What a JOKE!!! Seemed like an honest guy. Wrong!! I was told this was a month 2 month deal & that I could get out of it at any time, never telling me about a 3 year contract. Also told me it was $10.00 a month plus the 0.25% for card swipes. Again LIED!! There’s a $99.95 Annual Fee too. Every time I turned around they were taking money from my account. Then a $37.00 quarterly PCI Compliance charge. What the hell, I was never told about that either. I have tried time after time to reach( BEN GAFF ) as he doesn’t ever return my phone calls! Imagine that! Next time I’m handed papers with fine print I will read every word before signing!! Lesson learned. BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!!!!! In fact, I really don’t believe that all of the papers stating the terms where even attached to what I signed.

We leased credit card terminal for 4 years. They were supposed to remove the $10 monthly service fee and the $6.95 Breach Security Fee. They did not. We began the lease on 0706/2009. The sales person was Josh Castillo. I have contacted him and several other people in the company to no avail. The last person was a Mr. Omar Morales (1-303-625-4207 [email protected]). He has twice told me that he would get back with me with in an hour. He has yet to contact me. He is now ignoring my calls and emails. We would not have leased the terminal with out these discounts. That is why we made sure that they were included in the contract.

Transfirst is scammers in the letter of the law. I signed up with them because they promised to lower my rates from my current supplier. After much trials, they turned out to be more expensive for my case and there was nothing I could do about it (customer not present, “unqualified transactions”). When I tried to cancel they said I was locked into a 3-year contract (which was news to me). When I insisted, they agreed to cancel and two days later I got a note from my bank that they had charged me $495 and I had $150 in overdrawn charges. when I called they said it is in the “Terms of Agreement” which I never read. I tried suing them in small claims court, but they have multiple names (the name on the contract is not their legal name and are hard to pin down. Finally the judge said the contract says disputes should be settled in Colorado and dismissed the case. I have friend in Colorado so…

Do not deal with Transfirst. I rips off your money by making false claims.

Due to many unhappy issues with it, I closed my acc with Transfirst. But the processing of closing my acc was awful. I received my last statement and found it overcharged me $10 (I have completed PCI questionnaire, which according to our contract, I shall only pay $18.8, instead of $28.8 in the statement.)I called and was confirmed that its system showed I complied with PCI and $10 will be added to the refund (Ref#58). However, later on I found it did not add $10 to the refund. When I called again, I was informed that its system showed my PCI has not completed and the $10 refund was rejected. It is very conflict to the previous info. My PCI was completed a year before. If there were any issue, its system should have shown when I called. I believe Transfirst intentionally overcharges its customers by making false claims.

Don,t get scammed by this company- They use friendly agents who promise to work for you and be on your side. I was lied to about monthly fees- was told I would only be charged fees during the months I had sales which is three months. Since I signed up I have been charged fees every month that I had no knowledge of . I also was told there would be no termination fee or even a long term contract. I was assured that I could leave at any time. The contract that I downloaded did not have anything about an early termination fee and because I was verbally told that there would not be one in my case( because I am a small time crafter) ,I did not read the contract carefully enough which refers to another contract that you have to download that has the info about the termination fee. They purposely manipulate so they can steal as much money as they can from you.. I will never use a credit processing company again. These people are unethical and should be put in jail for stealing from innocent, hard working small business people!

This company is a farce. They lie about EVERYTHING and offer you nothing. They are more expensive than other merchant services. The reason they have outrageous cancellation fees is because it’s the only way they can stay in business. By stiffing people who were duped into signing up with them. Worst contract I ever signed.

We’re back for comments and of course not even remotely happy with Transfirst “or” the entire credit card processing system! A few days ago we had an order (almost $3k), turned out to be fraud. Transfirst did their job and helped us determine it was in fact a fraud order. For that I give them a 6. Now, today we got our monthly statement, and we were charged a non-qualified fee (which was more than $50) for the exact same transaction that Transfirst notified us was fraud and reversed themselves. For that I give them a -10!

We are told that even tho the transaction was reversed and no $$ transferred anywhere, we are still liable for the non-qualified fee (which they say is charged by (Visa) in this case.

That my friend, is total BS and the credit card companies are some of the biggest ripoffs in this world. Charge us over $50 for a transaction that was reversed and never happened is entirely insane and should be illegal.

I have been working with transfirst since July of 2012. To date I have had 3 people in the company who actually try to help. We are still not up and running. Things like wrong equipment sent, their techs dont understand their own equipment. Once you sign the lease they dont care whether or not you can use the equipment as long as they get the monthly payment. Messages that are left go unreturned. Trying to get thru on a call is usually hit or miss and sometimes you are on hold for 30 minutes and then the call is lost. So many different departments exist and no one takes responsibility they just pawn it off on the next person. Oh and better yet. They will turn you over to collections in a heart beat even if you have done nothing to deserve this. I have been told to get a lawyer and that the lease holds even though I have never been able to process a payment. Be very aware of this company!!1

This Company Is Full of it!!!! I Just Signed Up A Month Ago & Was told my average ticket would be $595.00 so most my clients were sold at $595.00..I Processed 6 transactions during the first month and recieved a call from the risk department with no chargebacks..They ask for my invoices to call the bank and verify that the customers were legit..Then Derrick & Christi, In The Risk Department called my customers without my knowlegde after i asked Derrick What he was going to do. Now I Never recieved funds from these bastards.. and they made one of my clients chargeback who i never received funds from and tried to deduct it out my bank instead of taking it from the funds they were holding..DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY they trying to get people to sign up then hold funds but encourage your clients to chargeback, basically giving you the double wammy!!!!! Crooks

DO BUSINESS WITH ANOTHER COMPANY!!!!!!!!! Tried to set up an account with them. They over promised and could not deliver. Every day I spoke to different individuals and none of them could set up the account. They compared the rate I had with my current carrier and promised to save us money. All they wanted to do was sign a contract and work out the details later. I am not saying they are a scam…you decide.

DO NOT DO IT!! I am at fault. I didn’t read the fine print in my haste to set up an account. I stopped charging customers as the service I was providing became obsolete. I now find out that I am stuck in a contract for another 18 months with fees ranging from 40.00 per month to 71.25 per month with NO TRANSACTIONS taking place. I can cancel for a 500.00 fee.

Like an idiot, I signed a personal guarantee so even though my business is no longer, I am still personally on the hook for the fees for nothing.

Avoid this company, unless you like to be abused and ripped off . Along with their abusive processing fees and termination policy, there’s also the terminal rental agreement . The agent representing Provident bank NY,( which I’ve had a relationship over 25 years and once trusted) said its was for 12 months along with the processing agreement . Not surprisingly, this was a lie. She took it upon herself to write in 48 months where 12 months should have appeared and which apparently,, I signed for personally… you like that one?.. No returned phone calls or e-mails returned to me screaming FRAUD from Provident Bank…….nothing…..Their silence speaks volumes……..

I would advise to stay away from Transfirst and Merchant Express. I’ve been with them since 2010, and will cancel Mar 2013 to avoid paying termination fees.

First problem I encountered. They continually try to change fees and rates, and lord forbid someone uses a stolen credit card on your website! I lost about $800 because I couldn’t afford to fight the charges.. Second: They once had on my bill that I had to start paying $30/month to use Authorize.net??? I wrote their shareholders and had that removed since my contract stated there was authorize.net fee… Third: I was having a good year in sales and they started withholding funds from us because we were doing so good?? Really!!! The were basically telling me that I was selling too much, so they withheld funds. I had to call the boss to get it straightened out and the funds released to us. I basically said, your telling me as a business owner, to NOT sell to much stuff or your going to keep our money! I said that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life! I won that battle also. Fourth: They will never tell you there is a outrageous termination fee if you decide to close your account. It took me about 2 weeks to find out where there rules and regulations are posted on their website.

I would not recommend them to anyone! The only positive thing I can say is I have never had a problem with processing transactions through them.

AVOID THESE PEOPLE!.. I made the mistake of switching to them. The first year went as agreed. Then all hell broke loose. My no term agreement is now 3 years, $495 to terminate, waved fees are now manditory, and rate increases are not their fault, and I have 0 chargebacks. DO NOT DO BUSSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!

I love TransFirst! My bank switched me to another company that was horrible (FirstData) – i’m so happy to be back with TransFirst! I’ve never had a problem. Customer Service, the couple of times, I’ve called, has always been professional and helpful. I needed to speak to a department (Sales) that was closed – they took a message and had sales call me. My batches are settled gross and on time, within 2 days. Statements are easy to read and understand. TransFirst are low. I do about $200,000 in transactions.

Throw my hat in with unhappy customers. This company sucks and I regret ever partnering with them to handle my merchant services!! They act like I should be lucky to get such problems with them. AVOID TRANSFIRST AT ALL COST!!!! The salesperson lied to me even though he sent me an email indicating what the terms were. My fault for not thoroughly reading the lengthy contract. I was busy establishing my business and thought an email from him stating all fees was sufficient. WRONG!! I’ve found other merchant accounts that I will select from when I dump this company.

In the last 6-12 months your service has become abominable. I received phone call after phone call when my service was due to expire last year and your company wanted to sell me new equipment. Since then, nobody answers phone calls. I was promised a rebate for resigning and received only half of it. I called your customer service line and was told a refund would be processed. Several months later, I’m still waiting. Most importantly, the equipment and the card processing service literally doesn’t work most of the time. Anywhere from 33%-50% of all card transactions FAIL — I get a message that says “Please try again”. It doesn’t matter which phone line the machine is attached to or whether it is a card swipe or a keyed-in transaction.

Merchant Express / TransFirst Merchant Services ARE NOTHING MORE THAN SCAM ARTISTS! The name of their game is to suck as much money away from their merchants as possible. This whole company hides behind other company names to hide the fact of what they really are SCAM ARTISTS.

The second you sign the contract, they start hitting you with fees left and right that no other processing company would do. The will nail you with another chargeback fee if a customer continues to dispute the item, called preabritation. They try to con you into signing another piece of paper that says they are debit your bank account $100 for them to represent you for the prearb, and thats ontop of the 2 $25.00 fees they charge you for one chargeback.

They try to make nothing but excuses to hold you money for weeks at a time, and they lucture you about their company being out funds because of fraud. ALL THIS TIME ITS THESE A-HOLES casing you to get chargebacks!

They will know that buyer’s falsify chargebacks and regardless of what you say, they dont care. Their whole scam is to like we said, to steal as much money away from you as possible and find any excuse they want to steal it!

STAY AWAY FROM THESE CONS! You’ll see alot of other complaints filed against them on ripoff report.com

Until this day Transfirst is still continuing to hold funds. Their Risk Department clearly knew the chargebacks were not caused by our company. They were buyers that wanted to get merchandise for free. They purposely held days of transactions purposely. They made us complete some redicicolous paperwork and when we submitted to them the response we got, was that they didnt care about our company and didnt care that holding funds would result in more chargebacks due to their holding of funds. They gave every excuse possible to steal money. We had a chargeback ratio of 1.03% which is well within tolerable standards to visa mastercard. But they still did wantever they wanted. I would stay clear from this shaddy company.

Transit First are a bunch of paranoid, incompetitent idiots. Some of the employees are nice, but the fact is they screw things up left and right. The idiot who signed us up placed my home address on the application instead of my business address and we started getting calls at my home from customers! They do absolutely nothing whatsoever to help you. They give you less than 5 business days to respond back to any type of chargebacks, where as everyone else gives you 21 days. They attempt to scare you into not responding to 2nd chargebacks filed by fraudulent buyers and try to make you sign a $100 filing fee for 2nd chargebacks. If you get one chargeback they will cut your funds off immediately without telling you.

They will make you sign document to get money that should be yours. They consistently ask you how many chargebacks you’d receive in the future and its like you’d actually know that. Whether dispute is your fault or you can prove it was mail order fraud, Transit First aka Merchant Express doesnt care. They are extremely paranoid and will put your company at a finanical loss in a second without your knowledge.

We wish we never signed up with these crooks! We are in the process of finding someone else.

The sales guy never mentioned the three year contract. He told me he would waive the $59 yearly fee – but did not mention that he was waiving it only for the first year. He never mentioned an early termination fee of $500. This is not a very good way to do business. They added fees to the contract, claim that they notified me (I never saw it) and now the contract has changed – but I can’t change the contract – only they can. If you bother to read the terms document, not only will you never sign anything with these sharks, but you will be amazed how they can have the audacity to even write such an unfair document. I am actively going to spread the word as much as I can to help prevent innocent people for getting scammed like I did.

Transfirst is one of the incompetent vendors I have ever dealt with. Let me first say that their fees are beyond exorbitant. As it turns out, I was being double billed for I don’t know how long which I couldn’t detect because the fees are so numerous and confusing even at best. When this came to my attention, Transfirst acknowledged the double billing but would do nothing beyond a 90 day period even though it was their fault and they admitted the error. Then, when I questioned their normal unreasonable fees (almost 30%), they suddenly changed the fees for no reason as if they had been randomly made up in the first place. Not that the new fees were particularly reasonable either as they’re now at least 10%.

Then I made the big mistake of thinking they could competently handle a straightforward request to change merchant banks. My new merchant bank account was already set up and running. However, in this transaction, Transfirst somehow managed to close my payment gateway account, which contained all my historic account information stored, altogether so that none of my transactions could occur and I couldn’t access any of my information. It took me countless numbers of phone calls to straighten this out and, in doing so, I missed a whole cycle of billing.

I went to adjust my recurring billing amounts this month in order to recoup the missed billing of last month and, amazingly enough, Transfirst again screwed up and had closed my gateway account for no reason! Transfirst didn’t even have a record that the account had been closed again! The payment gateway support had to tell them!!! Because of their gross incompetence, I’m going to miss another billing cycle.

They don’t know what they’re doing!

I’m going to report them to the Better Business Bureau and get rid of them as quickly as possible.

I was not told of any of the fees, the contract, etc. I have been stuck paying these idiots because I could not afford the termination fee which I was told is a percentage of the time you have left. $90 quarterly PLUS $30 a month PLUS some phanton $7 fee from AmEx. The worst part? My business crashed and burned before it ever got started, so I’ve been paying this out of my personal money. Being a single mom, I feel so totally taken advantage of and wish I could get my money back.

I also wish I had never signed up with this company. My cancellation fee is $495, what a waste of hard earned money. Was never told about the “contract”, and there are always additional fees. I have never had a processor that was soooo slow! They claim to be cheap on their fees, but I find them to be a lot higher then other companies. DON”T USE THIS BANKING SERVICE!I also find that they LIE!

Avoid this company at all cost. They pitch a good game on lower fees etc, but shortly after you get started they they start raising them. They then falsely claim the card companies have raised their fees. You have 15 days to dispute the fees from date of increase to avoid being locked into a long term contract. I cancelled my contract and paid the $495 cancellation fee, and to add insult to injury, they would not credit the annual administrative fee (never disclosed and paid forward). This is an unethical business. If I did business and treated my customers this way, I would be out of business.

Transfirst Merchant Services are the BIGGEST scam artists and liars in the merchant account processing arena. I have emails from scummy sales rep that sold me lies and when I signed up fees were way higher than what I got in writing!

To make things worst there so behind in technology and don’t have a single Android app or intergrate with RoamPay. Last straw was for the last month we couldn’t as a company run any transaction on ANY mobile device, iphone, android, blackberry and we process 80% of our credit cards in the field.

So we changed processors to great local company [CPO Redacted] and told Transfirst by a NOTARIZED termination letter that we faxed and emailed to various emails/numbers we found and told them we are going to sue them in small claims court for breach of contract if they try to screw with our credit or pursue come BS cancellation fee.

Of course last week they have the audacity to think were goingto pay a cancellation fee to them after they lied and costs us a bunch of money.

Also did I mention our new merchant processor has ZERO long term contract only month to month and they show you exactly what there mark up is. We found them on feefinders.com great site.

P.S I should add we got lucky, we were in the midst of changing business bank accounts (getting raped by Bank of America) to awesome credit union and closed our bank account. So lying dogs at Transfirst Merchant Services can’t try to keep debiting our business account or try to stick us with some BS cancellation fee. :D

I’ll keep everyone updated on this pending situation with this lying bastards.

But seriously checkout [CPO Redacted] the guy that owns it actually drove to an iHop by my house to hand deliver the RoamPay swiper (that’s freaking service) and worked with Firstdata merchant processor to get everything done in 3 business days for us.

Guy has amazing service and well known nationally. NO setup costs, NO cancellation fees, NO long term contract, $10 a month minimum fees total. Lowest I’ve seen. Plus, instead of getting two different merchant statements every month and having to wait 72 hours to get paid from AMEX like with scum bag Transfirst Merchant Services. They set it up so you only get ONE statement per month and get paid in just 24-36 hours with AMEX just like you do with Visa/Mastercard.

The saga w transfirst continues and its a negatice story. First not that the original post says ” transfirst appears ” to be good That poster has no experience w the company. My experience is that the company wants to take as much of your money as they can to minimize downside risk. They had an analyst who clearly had never been in business and was making up senerios which hadnt happened in 6 years.

If you re with this company get a back up bc the day may come as it did with me where they grab all your money with no timely notice and your scambling to stay in business.

Do not trust thus company- do not think you have a “relationship”. You dont .

They are all about the money in my experience and opinion – they are not fair nor are their business practices reasonable in my view. Many other options – both chase and wells have been good

Avoid transfirst. Not to be trusted with your money, your business, or your relationships.

Stay away from this company!! Bill Gavin was full of lies and did not disclose ALL the other fees. I have emails from him stating all the fees, which was not even a small fraction of what they really charge. I regarded this email from him to summarize my contract. LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES. And every time something comes up, the snotty reps always say, “according to your contract”. NO personal service what so ever. Basically these thieves take 5-10% of my sales!!!! Again, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!! There are many others with good reviews.

I have to agree with a few of the posters. This company is pretty horrid. I’ve tried to get ahold of the guy who signed me up and he never emails me back. I have random charges coming out of my account on different dates every month. I’m going back to cancel with them and go back to payquake.com. They at least know how to treat their customers and not steal from you.

I signed up with Transfirst in June 2011 when I opened my Chiropractic business, I spoke with Bill Gavin who told me that I was not entered into any contract and that there were NO monthly bills and I could leave anytime I want!! He rushed me along to sign up and oh boy was I a fool (this was my first dealing with merchant accounts)!! I had $5.00 monthly fees, $30.00 Quartely fees, a percentage minimum to reach in total sales otherwise I was charged $25.00 and I would have to pay $500 to leave before 3 years!! These people are the ABSOLUTE WORST business I have ever dealt with, they are scammers and their customer service is terrible!! Please DO NOT sign up with them!!!

My experience with Transfirst was extremely negative. They sales rep was very friendly and helpful, but outright lied about the terms. When the bill showed up, I rebutted the bill and cited the emails from the sales rep showing the conflicting terms. The made a ‘correction’ for one month and actually increased fees the following. When again I pointed out the error they basically said they didn’t have to abide by any terms that were agreed to via email. At this point I had not processed a single charge through their system, so I offered to just close our relationship accept the loss as a lesson in which companies not to use. They then tried to debit my account for a ‘cancellation’ charge’. The issue is that there rep lied about the recurring charges. When called on it they basically indicated they were ok with his actions, because they didn’t count email descriptions of their charges as binding.

This provider kept 125k dollars of my money for a 8k dollar chargeback, which we won. They reviewed the account and cancelled me with very little notice, screwing up my business tremendously. They are in my opinion and inexperience a company to avoid. Thier contract involves clauses that allow them to do whatever they want . AVOID THIS COMPANY, They are NOT TRUSTWORTHY!

Transfirst complaint: I had a contract with transfirst since Jan 2008. They kept adding charges with they did not inform me about. When I notices the extra charges on the billing, it was too late to recind the charges. They couldn’t guarantee that no more charges would be made in the future. Finally after putting up with this for 2 plus years, I cancelled my account. Oops…early cancellation fee $195.00 right out of my checking account. They did not inform me of this fee when I cancelled. It is written in the contract. One section states that the original contract signed is for 3 years. Another section states that early cancellation is $195. You would have to have a great memory for finite facts over a 2 plus period to remember these facts and connect them. Expecially when frustrated by all the extra charges they add. DONT USE THIS BANKING SERVICE

Provider of the Month

Why Fattmerchant: This provider has one of the most competitive pricing plans of any merchant account provider in the card processing industry. Fattmerchant also offers a month-to-month service agreement, no cancellation fees, no hidden fees, and processing options for virtually any business need. Add to all of this easy-to-use technology and top-rated customer support, and you can’t go wrong with this choice.

Exposing The Truth

Hi, I’m Phillip and I’m disgusted by the state of credit card processing industry. I believe that it has been overrun by people who engage in fraud and deception in order to steal from hard working business owners. I’ve made it my mission to expose the companies and individuals who engage in predatory marketing, pricing, and contracts. You shouldn’t have to worry about paying inflated fees or getting trapped in expensive contracts when you are simply trying to take payments from your customers.

Phillip Parker Founder & Critic

P.S. If you would like to help support my work, please checkout “Fee Sweep” my eGuide to getting the lowest possible fees when accepting card payments. If you haven’t heard of “interchange” this advice will save you hundreds, even thousands, in fees.